The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

30

LEO KNEW EVERYTHING COMING NEXT WAS SIMPLY GOING TO BE TROUBLE. He didn't bother to try pacing himself anymore. It was simply hopeless. Unsheathing the dagger may have been a mistake on his part, and Avine had escaped with the knowledge of who held it.

It happened almost too quickly.

"Scar, what were you saying about the anklet?" Jess asked as Scar breathed a heavy sigh while slumping onto the nearest chair.

"I-It's gone."

Silence crept over the group. No one knew what to say next besides the cliche saying of pretending to be concerned and asking precisely the series of events that led to such occurring. Luckily, Scar, from Leo's gaze had already understood the silent question and gave a timid nod of acknowledgment before clearing his throat himself.

"It happened to fast. From the visible katana to the wave from the necklace, I froze. Then, Avine lunged at me. He saw the anklet on me I guess. Anyway, I tried lifting him off me but he flicked something at me and it stopped everything. Everything was muffled. He grabbed it so quickly then made it to some secret door."

And now, Leo stood with one of his arms around Jess' shoulders gazing against the newest sight before them. Aspyn was dead silent.

Projected on every single building within fifty yards of the palace was a video of Avine with a smile so obviously plastered on him that Leo was convinced that the editors had probably put a sticker over the live feed.

Then, he raised his wrist and unclasped the anklet. Yes, he wore the anklet as a bracelet. Holding it up, the camera adjusted to the blurry gem dangling before it.

Leo gasped, "What is he doing?"

"Telling us to stop messing with the Avinian territory," Aspyn replied as the angle of the video switching from Avine's face to the bracelet laid atop a few pieces of colored paper. It was aesthetically pleasing, Leo had to give him that. "And I'd take a wild guess and say it'll work. For the moment, anyway."

In the next two or so moments, Leo nearly felt his heart stop. He was practically shaking. Almost as if the suspension wasn't enough, the live feed switched into a slow-motion clip that no one could tear their eyes off.

Avine picked up a hammer, which was shown to collide with the anklet. Shards spilled from all directions, Leo's eyes were glued to the screen, his face slowly morphing into a horrified reaction and although it seemed like Avine had maximized and squished all he could into the thirty second clip, it hadn't ended, the video clip flipped back to Avine's face.

He was laughing now. "Oh, Covians. You think we're so stupid."

The video ended abruptly, with the screen simply shutting down as soon as Avine's final line was uttered. Turning his attention to the rest of the group, Leo was aware that Avine could come barging in at any moment in their powerless state.

"It's broken, it really is."

"Well," Aspyn snapped. "What did you think was going to happen. Maybe he'd display it for the sole purpose to keep the lavine's invincible, obviously."

"What now," Louis dropped his gaze to the very interesting tiled floor pattern covering the ground from the main room all the way to the kitchen.

She hissed. "Jett, code red."

"I know. I heard." His answer was instant.

Without realizing it, Leo was tapping his foot almost incessantly, so much that if it was only two volume settings louder, one would readily assume he was impatient or could find a better use for his time.

In reality, he simply wanted to know if Avine had smashed a hoax. How to check, either attempt at killing a lavine and checking results, or the more conservative movement of asking Jess if she could move her necklace.

"Jess," He whispered. "Can you move your necklace?"

"Unfortunately, I can. Avine's got the upper edge now no matter how much we deny or evade it. It's the facts."

Quietly, Jess, Leo, Scar, and Louis excused themselves outside of the board meeting and met on the outer corridor, a more common ground-like vibe emanating from it. They passed through the door separating the dormitories from the collection rooms. The noise levels changed so drastically it almost seemed it was taken out of a horror movie.

"I really, really hope Ellie's flipped that switch," Leo says once they've shut the door.

"There's no way she has. Even if she managed to nick the ID out of the Queen's grasp, Jett hasn't left his office unintentionally for a period of time long enough for her to go prancing inside." Scar nodded.

Jess attempted at pressing the button.

They waited and waited until it had become too obvious that they were locked inside

"Well," Jess sighed. "We're screwed on this side of the rope, we might as well try to get him out of the office."

"I really hate to be a chicken, but this is the last option. Of course, we've got to do that."

"Great." Leo clasped his hands together. "Now, for the plan."

He was right. Everything from this point was only going to get messier. Besides the fact that Jess necklace which holds their power to leave Covia was now potentially vulnerable, and that Scar, Ellie, Louis and himself can now be killed, there was also war.

It was too close a game with too much at risk.